Qualified Teacher? New Zealand Wants You!

Many qualified teachers from all parts of the globe immigrate to New Zealand. Not only is New Zealand’s education system top-notch, but the picturesque landscape, native bushes, and amazing outdoor life that the country offers make it a coveted place for professional teachers.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) put New Zealand in the top 20 nations for the quality of the country’s schools in 2015. Teenagers in New Zealand perform above the OECD average for sciences, reading literacy and maths. Every year, over 90,000 international students come to New Zealand for educational reasons, making education the country’s fifth biggest export earner.

New Zealand’s schools are also facing a staffing crisis. In September 2017, Stuff.co.za published an article that said the New Zealand Ministry of Education is hastening to streamline the process for overseas-trained teachers to have their qualifications recognised. In the article, the president of the Auckland Primary Principals’ Association said the intervention was crucial.

Qualified teachers looking to immigrate to New Zealand to work need to have their qualifications recognised in New Zealand. This process involves working with:

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority,

Immigration New Zealand, and

The Education Council.

Ellen Macgregor-Reid, the New Zealand Ministry of Education deputy secretary, said the country was currently looking at ways to make the process for foreign teachers to get their qualifications recognised easier.

To work as a teacher in New Zealand, teachers MUST be:

Registered,

Hold a current practising certificate, and

You also need to have the legal right to live and work in New Zealand.